Academic Success in 1st-year Engineering Students: Key Factors

This work-in-progress research to practice paper analyzes how previous personal, social and academic variables converge in the explanation of students’ academic performance, during the 1st year of Engineering courses. A sample of 737 1st year students of Engineering courses in a Portuguese public university was considered. Students age ranging from 16 to 41 years old (M = 18.29, SD =2.01), having entered the university with a GPA ranging from 154.6 to 200.0 (M =154.60, SD=18.10). Two measures of academic achievement were taken into account in this study: the number of subjects/curricular units successfully completed at the end of the 1st semester, and the average of the marks obtained in the approved curricular units at the end of the 1st year. In terms of predictors, we considered sex, age, parents´ academic education, course and university option and access GPA. The regression analysis shows that GPA and sex have a higher impact on academic achievement. These data deserve attention from institutions and professors since some students access their courses without the necessary level of academic competencies, motivation and vocational career definition which justifies the need for diagnosing and levelling students’ background and personal characteristics. It is also important because several students are not in their first option institution/course, which also impacts their adjustment process to the University.